strong



5 sheetssheet 1.

(No Model.)

G. S. STRONG. STEAM ENGINE.

. Patented May 5, 1896.

zu d

INVENLOR: MSA S WITNEQSBSES- y ANDREW B.GRAHAM. PHOT O-LITNO.WASHINBDN.17.C.

(No Model.) 5 Smets-sheet 2.

G. s. STRONG. `STEAM ENGINE.

NQ. 559,501. Patented May 5, 1896.

Figi'.

7g i??? f N 43%@ dv. M/ n -@V C? 76g@ l.

*NDREW BLRMIAM PMDTG'UTMaWASNINGmMDC (No Model.) f 5.Sheets-Sheet 3,

Gr.` S. STRONG.

STEAM ENGINE.

1\10.559,501.` Patentedlvmy 5,1896.

5 Sheets Sheet 4,

(No Model.) y.

G. S. STRONG.

STEAM ENGINE.

Patented May 5, 1896l B w.-. l- .we ,f m nr H.. I- m E F WITNESSE AN DREW BLRAHAM. PHUTO'LI'I'MQWASMINGTUNE.

5. t e e h S n... e e h s 5 G.. E NN 0 1 G RN. ,TE SM SE .M G m. d 0 M o fN..

No. 559,501. Patented May 5, 1896.

FIG@

w Y w .l llll/ N ITE l GEORGE S. STRONG, OF NEV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE BALANGED LOCOMOTIVE AND ENGINEERING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

STEAM-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part vof Letters PatentNo. 559,501 dated May 5, 1896.

VApplication filed November 17, 1894, Serial No. 529,109. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. STRONG, a citizen of the United States7 residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Steam-Engines, of which the following is a true and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

My invention relates to valves for steamengines and devices for imparting motion thereto, and has for its main objects to provide a simple valve motion for actuating the valves, especially those used in a compound engine, to reduce the number of these valves necessary to be employed and otherwise to simplify the construction and arrangement of the valves and their connections.

My invention will be best understood as explained in connection with the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is afront sectional view of a compound steam-engine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a section on the line .e ,e of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a section on the line y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, showing details of the valve-actuating mechanism. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the cranks Which operate the valves, and Figs. 6 and 7 are two gures showing the valves in different positions.

l have shown my arrangement of valves and my improved valve motion as applied to a particular compound engine in which, referring more particularly to Figs. l, 2, and 3, F is aframe on which is supported the bearings F, the crank-shafts and also the other parts which go to make up the engine. C C is a casting in which are formed cylinders c c. A casting O2, having a cylinder c2 formed therein, and a casting C3, having cylinder c3 formed therein, form the heads of the cylinders c c', respectively, and are themselves provided with heads D2 D3. A is a piston having atrunk a2 projecting in one direction and a trunk a4 of the same size projecting in the other direction and adapted to reciprocate in the cylinder c. A piston A', similar in construction and provided with trunks a3 a5, is arranged in the cylinder c'. The trunks a2 a3 serve as sin 0le-actin0r hifrhressure iisb C b tons, the piston A as a double-acting intermediate-pressure piston and the piston A as a double-acting low-pressure piston. g g are pins, by means of which the connecting-rods G G are pivoted on the cross-head trunks (t4 a5, and Su are suitable cranks on the main shaft S. e is an eccentric which serves, by means of a strap c', to give the proper motion to the valve-operating mechanism, preferably through a link S. S4 is a governor operating through a lever s3 to regulate the throw of the valve, as will be explained. W is asuitable casing surrounding the cylinders, and M5 the exhaust-port. This much of my engine is substantially like that described in my application, Serial No. 529,260, filed November 19, 1894, and is not made subject to claims in this application.

While my arrangement of valves and their operative connections can very advantageously be used with an engine whose general arrangement is substantially similar to that described above, they may be used to advantage With almost any type of compound engine,and l do not wish to be considered as limiting the application of my improvements to the particular engine described.l

Referring again to the drawings, especially Figs. l and 2, V is a valve, preferably a piston-valve, adapted to admit steam to and permit it to exhaust from the high-pressure cylinders, and, as shown, is adapted to reciprocate in the valve-chamber M. V is a valvestem connected at e5vvith the rod e2.

In the position of the parts shown in Fig. l

`high-pressure steam from the inlet N is entering the cylinder c through the passage or port o2, and steam is exhausting from the cylinder c3 through the port o3 and passage N to the chamber Nsin the casing M, the chamber N3 acting as a receiver. lndependentvalves O P permit the steam from the chamber Ni to enter alternately the top and bottom of the cylinder c. The ports 0 p lead from the cylinder c to the cylinder c', and valves OP are arranged in said ports or conduits o p, and When open ed serve not only as the inlet-valves for the cylinder c but also as exhaust-valves for the cylinder c, thus permitting me to dispense with one set of valves. Valves O2 P2 permit the steam to escape from the cylinder IOC c through passage INDL to the final exhaust M5. This arrangement of valves forms an impor tant part of my invention, which consists, first, in the combination of the valve V for admitting steam to a high-pressure piston or pistons with independent valves for governing the admission and exhaust of steam to and from the lower-pressure cylinders, and,

second, in the combination with cylinders, as

c c', where c is adapted to receive steam already expanded in the cylinder c irrespective of any specific construction of the cylinder, of ports op, wherein a single valve, preferably close to the lower-pressure cylinder, serves as the inlet-valve of the low pressure and at the same time as the exhaust of the high pressure, other valves governing respectively the exhaust and admission of these two cylinders.

To operate the valve V, I preferably connect the rod e2, which is pivoted to the valvestem V at c5, to a block S2, fitting in a groove s' in alink S, though of course the rod e2 could be pivoted directly on the link if desired. By providing the block, however, the operation of the valve V can be regulated by a governor by shifting said block along the groove in the usual way.

To operate the valves O P, die., I pivot to the end of the link S, as to the ear S5 thereon, a rod S6, which serves to operate all the valves which govern the flow of steam in the low and intermediate cylinders, a connectingrod ST connecting the upper set of valves with the operating-rod S.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 4 and 5, CZ/ q are cranks set at an angle to each other, and are preferably mounted on a supporting-shaft, as D. In referring to d and q as cranks, I wish to be understood as employing the word in its broadest sense and including eceentrics as well as cranks proper. In the construction shown a plate D2 is secured to the shaft D, and the crank action is obtained by pivoting links, as Z .7", to the plate at d' q', respectively, i" r2 being pins on which the links are secured. These links Zj connect the plate with the valve-stems Zj, r3 r4 being pins at these points, and cross-head guides Pff are provided to properly guide the connecting-links Zj. Ipreferably secure the stems Z3j3 to the cross-heads Zij* by means of suitable nuts fw w, so that the position of the valve may be adj usted, and Iprefer, as shown in Fig. 4, to provide two links Z/ l j j', 85e.

The stems Zj are connected to the valves O/ O2, which are shown as gridiron slidevalves, though of course any other sort of valves, as rotary valves, may be employed if desired. I also secure to the shaft D a crank (l, which operates the valve O and is connected to it by the links Z, arranged in the same Way as the links Zj, &c. This crank d is set in the same relative position as the crank q', since the valves O and O2 are opened and closed simultaneously. Dis a crank-arm which is connected to the rod SG either directly or through the rod S7.

The

operation of these cranks d q', and of course the crank d, will be understood by reference to Figs. 5, 6, and 7. The travel of the cranks d q is laid off from l to 5, and when these cranks are in their central position at 3 the crank D is atits central position, as indicated at 17152, being the limits of the oscillations of this crank. IVhen the cranks c?, q', and D are in the positions l, l, and t', respectively, the valve O', operated by the crank d', is open Wide,while the valve O2 is closed. The cranks cl/ q' now travel from l to 2, the. New it will be noted that the crank d in traveling from l to 2 moves the valve O a considerable amount, as indicated by the position 2 of the pin r3, while the valve O2 has hardly been moved, since the point l is about as far on one side of the line drawn from the center of the shaft D to the pin r4 as the point 2 is on the other. IVhen the cranks d q come to 3, as shown in Fig. 7, both valves will be closed, and as the cranks continue their motion the valve Q will simply be slid slightly farther in its seat, while the valve O2 will be quickly thrown wide open. D10 is a similar shaft,hav ing cranks similar to the cranks d d' q', and which serve to operate the valves I) I P2, which govern the flow of steam to and from the lower end of the cylinders e c. rlhe cranks D D10 are conveniently mounted on brackets E E', arranged on the front of the engine.

I-Iaving now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In an engine as described having two single-acting high-pressure pistons and double-acting intermediate and low pressure pistons, a valve for governing the fiow of steam to and from the high-pressure pistons, and independent valves for admitting steam to and permitting its exhaust from the other cylinders.

2. In an engine as described having two single acting high pressure pistons and double-acting intermediate and low pressure pistons, a valve for governing the liow of steam to and from the high-pressure pistons, means for regulating the amount of throw of said valve, and independent valves for admitting steam to and permitting its exhaust from the other cylinders.

3. In a compound engine a cylinder, a port o leading from said cylinder to alow-pressure cylinder, a port o' leading from port o into the low-pressure cylinder, a valve O adapted to admit steam into the port 0 and the highpressure cylinder, a valve O situated on the inlet side of the port o opening from port o and serving when opened to permit the escape of steam from the port 0 to port o', and from the high-pressure cylinder to the low-pressure cylinder, avalve O2 situated in port 0 on the delivery side of the port o and means for operating said valves as specified and whereby IOO IIO

the other is closed.

4. In a compound engine having tWo singleacting high-pressure cylinders c2 and c2 and double-acting intermediate and low pressure cylinders c c', steam-ports o p leading from the cylinder c to the cylinder c', a receiver N2 for the steam-exhaust from the high-pressure cylinders, inlet-valves O P opening from the receiver to the ports o and p, valves O P in ports o and p for governing the 110W of steam from the cylinder c to the cylinder c', exhaust-valves O2 P2 for governing the flow of steam from the cylinder c and means for actuating said valves as described.

5. In a compound engine the combination with high and loW pressure cylinders as c and c', a port o connecting said cylinders, asteamchamber, valve O opening from the steamchamber into port o, a valve O controlling the passage of steam through port o to the cylinder c a valve O2 controlling the exhaust of the cylinder c', arock-shaft D, cranks as o7] q set at an angle to each other on said shaft, and connections from one crank to valves O O2 and from the other crank to valve O', all substantially as described and so that the valve O is closed While valves O, O2 are open.

G. In a compound engine the combination with high and low pressure double-acting cylinders c and c of ports o and p connecting said cylinders, a steamcharnber,valves O and P opening from the steam-chamber into ports o and p, valves O and P' controlling the passage of steam through ports 0 and p to the cylinder c', valves O2 P2 controlling the eX- hau st of cylinder c', rock-shafts D D10, cranks as d q set at an angle to each other on the said shafts and connections from one crank of each pair to valves O O2 and P P2, and from the other cranks to valves O and P, all substantially as described, and so that the valves O' P' are closed While O O2 and P P2 are open and O and P opened alternately.

7. The combination With the cylinders c2 c3, single-acting pistons therein and conduits for steam leading into one end of each of said cylinders, of a single valve adapted to govern the passage of live steam into said cylinders and its exhaust therefrom, intermediate and low pressure cylinders c c', valves O P for admitting steam to the top and bottom of the cylinder c, valves O Pl adapted to serve as exhaust-valves of the cylinder c and inletvalves for the cylinder c', final exhaust-valves O2 P2, and means for operating said valves.

8. The combination With the cylinder c and valves O P for admitting steam thereto, of a4 cylinder c/ of larger size than the cylinder c, valves O P for governing the flow of steam from the cylinder c to the lower pressure c and iinal exhaust valves O2 P2, a shaft D, cranks d q set at an angle to each other on said shaft, a connection from these cranks to the" valves O O2 respectively, a crank d on said shaft connected to the valve O, a corresponding shaft D10 and cranks for operating the valves at the bottom of the cylinders and connections from a moving part of the engine for glioving an oscillating motion to the shafts, D D

GEORGE S. STRONG.

Witnesses HENRY J. PACK, EDW. F. AYREs. 

